Malcolm Keen
Encyclopedia
Malcolm Keen was an English
film and television actor.
Born in Bristol
, Keen was an early collaborator with the director Alfred Hitchcock
, starring in his silent films The Mountain Eagle
, The Lodger
and The Manxman
.
Keen was the father of actor Geoffrey Keen
, and the two both played Iachimo in Cymbeline
opposite Peggy Ashcroft
: Malcolm at the Old Vic
in 1932, Geoffrey at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1957. Keen played the Caliph in a production of James Elroy Flecker
's Hassan at His Majesty's Theatre
in London in 1923. Incidental music for the play was by Frederick Delius
, and the ballet in the House-of-the-Moving Walls was created by Fokine
. Also in the cast, Henry Ainley
as Hassan, Isabel Jeans
as Yasmin.
Keen's theatre credits include Man and Superman
in 1947 at the Alvin Theatre in New York
, The Enchanted
at the Lyceum Theatre in New York in 1950, Romeo and Juliet
at the Broadhurst Theatre
in New York in 1951, and Much Ado About Nothing
at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
, also in New York.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
film and television actor.
Born in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
, Keen was an early collaborator with the director Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
, starring in his silent films The Mountain Eagle
The Mountain Eagle
The Mountain Eagle is a British silent film, and Alfred Hitchcock's second as director following The Pleasure Garden.-Plot:The film is set in Kentucky. J. P. Pettigrew's wife died giving birth to his son Edward who was born a cripple. Pettigrew hates John Fulton who also loved Pettigrew's wife...
, The Lodger
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926 and released on 14 February 1927 in London and on 10 June 1928 in New York City. The film, based on a story by Marie Belloc Lowndes and a play Who Is He? co-written by Belloc Lowndes, concerns the hunt for a...
and The Manxman
The Manxman
The Manxman is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on an 1896 romantic novel The Manxman by Hall Caine, the director began work on the film just two weeks after the birth of his daughter, Patricia Hitchcock...
.
Keen was the father of actor Geoffrey Keen
Geoffrey Keen
Geoffrey Keen was an English actor who appeared in supporting roles in many famous films.-Early life:Keen was born in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, England, the son of stage actor Malcolm Keen. He was educated at Bristol Grammar School. He then joined the Little Repertory Theatre in Bristol for whom...
, and the two both played Iachimo in Cymbeline
Cymbeline
Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
opposite Peggy Ashcroft
Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Peggy Ashcroft, DBE was an English actress.-Early years:Born as Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft in Croydon, Ashcroft attended the Woodford School, Croydon and the Central School of Speech and Drama...
: Malcolm at the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
in 1932, Geoffrey at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1957. Keen played the Caliph in a production of James Elroy Flecker
James Elroy Flecker
James Elroy Flecker was an English poet, novelist and playwright. As a poet he was most influenced by the Parnassian poets.-Biography:...
's Hassan at His Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre
Her Majesty's Theatre is a West End theatre, in Haymarket, City of Westminster, London. The present building was designed by Charles J. Phipps and was constructed in 1897 for actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree, who established the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the theatre...
in London in 1923. Incidental music for the play was by Frederick Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
, and the ballet in the House-of-the-Moving Walls was created by Fokine
Michel Fokine
Michel Fokine was a groundbreaking Russian choreographer and dancer.-Biography:...
. Also in the cast, Henry Ainley
Henry Ainley
Henry Hinchliffe Ainley was an English Shakespearean stage and screen actor. He was married three times to Susanne Sheldon, Elaine Fearon and the novelist Bettina Riddle, later Baroness von Hutten zum Stolzenberg...
as Hassan, Isabel Jeans
Isabel Jeans
Isabel Jeans was an English stage and film actress known for her roles in several Alfred Hitchcock films, among others.-Career:...
as Yasmin.
Keen's theatre credits include Man and Superman
Man and Superman
Man and Superman is a four-act drama, written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to calls for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at The Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905, but with the omission of the 3rd Act...
in 1947 at the Alvin Theatre in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, The Enchanted
The Enchanted (play)
The Enchanted is a 1950 English adaptation by Maurice Valency of the play Intermezzo written in 1933 by French dramatist Jean Giraudoux.-Original productions:...
at the Lyceum Theatre in New York in 1950, Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
at the Broadhurst Theatre
Broadhurst Theatre
The Broadhurst Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 235 West 44th Street in midtown Manhattan.It was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, a well-known theatre designer who had been working directly with the Shubert brothers; the Broadhurst opened 27 September 1917...
in New York in 1951, and Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 205 West 46th Street in midtown-Manhattan.Designed by the architectural firm of Carrere and Hastings, it was built by producer Charles Dillingham and opened as the Globe Theatre, in honor of London's Shakespearean playhouse, on...
, also in New York.
Selected filmography
- The Skin GameThe Skin Game (1921 film)The Skin Game is a 1921 British-Dutch silent drama film directed by B. E. Doxat-Pratt.-Cast:* Edmund Gwenn - Hornblower* Mary Clare - Chloe Hornblower* Helen Haye - Mrs. Hillcrist* Dawson Millward - Mr...
(1921) - The Mountain EagleThe Mountain EagleThe Mountain Eagle is a British silent film, and Alfred Hitchcock's second as director following The Pleasure Garden.-Plot:The film is set in Kentucky. J. P. Pettigrew's wife died giving birth to his son Edward who was born a cripple. Pettigrew hates John Fulton who also loved Pettigrew's wife...
(1927) - The Lodger: A Story of the London FogThe Lodger: A Story of the London FogThe Lodger: A Story of the London Fog is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926 and released on 14 February 1927 in London and on 10 June 1928 in New York City. The film, based on a story by Marie Belloc Lowndes and a play Who Is He? co-written by Belloc Lowndes, concerns the hunt for a...
(1927) - The ManxmanThe ManxmanThe Manxman is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on an 1896 romantic novel The Manxman by Hall Caine, the director began work on the film just two weeks after the birth of his daughter, Patricia Hitchcock...
(1929) - JealousyJealousy (1931 film)Jealousy is a 1931 British drama film directed by G.B. Samuelson and starring Lilian Oldland, Malcolm Keen, Harold French and Frank Pettingell...
(1931) - The Night of the PartyThe Night of the PartyThe Night of the Party is a British mystery thriller film directed by Michael Powell and starring Leslie Banks, Ian Hunter, Jane Baxter, Ernest Thesiger and Malcolm Keen. In the United States it was released as The Murder Party.-Synopsis:...
(1935) - The Lonely RoadThe Lonely RoadThe Lonely Road is a 1936 British drama film directed by James Flood and starring Clive Brook, Victoria Hopper, Nora Swinburne and Malcolm Keen...
(1936) - Lorna DooneLorna Doone (1951 film)Lorna Doone is a 1951 American drama film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Barbara Hale, Richard Greene and Carl Benton Reid. It is an adaptation of the novel Lorna Doone by R.D...
(1951) - Kind Lady (1951)
- The Mating SeasonThe Mating Season (film)The Mating Season is a 1951 classic farce with elements of screwball comedy. A film made by Paramount Pictures, it was directed by Mitchell Leisen and produced by Charles Brackett from a screenplay by Charles Brackett, Richard Breen and Walter Reisch, based on the play Maggie by Caesar Dunn...
(1951) - Dick Turpin's RideDick Turpin's RideDick Turpin's Ride is a 1951 American adventure film directed by Ralph Murphy and starring Louis Hayward, Patricia Medina and Suzanne Dalbert. It follows the career of the eighteenth century highwaymen Dick Turpin. It is based on the poem Dick Turpin's Ride by Alfred Noyes...
(1951) - Rob Roy, the Highland RogueRob Roy, the Highland RogueRob Roy, the Highland Rogue is a 1953 British-American action film, made by Walt Disney Productions. This film is about Robert Roy MacGregor. Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue is the final Disney film released through RKO....
(1953) - I Accuse!I Accuse!I Accuse! is a 1958 biographical drama film directed by and starring José Ferrer. The film is based on the true story of the Dreyfus Case, in which a Jewish captain in the French Army is falsely accused of treason.-Plot synopsis:...
(1957) - The Birthday PresentThe Birthday PresentThe Birthday Present is a 1957 British drama film directed by Pat Jackson. It stars Tony Britton, a top toy salesmen returning from a business trip to Germany with a watch hidden inside a toy, intended as a birthday present for his wife Sylvia Syms. He is caught by customs, arrested, and sentenced...
(1957) - Fortune is a WomanFortune is a WomanFortune is a Woman is a 1957 British crime film directed by Sidney Gilliat and starring Jack Hawkins, Arlene Dahl and Dennis Price. An attempted insurance fraud goes badly wrong...
(1957) - Operation AmsterdamOperation AmsterdamOperation Amsterdam is a 1959 British action film, directed by Michael McCarthy, and featuring Peter Finch, Eva Bartok and Tony Britton. It is based on a true story as described in the book Adventure in Diamonds, by David E Walker. The action of the story covers a few days in May 1940 when the...
(1959) - Francis of AssisiFrancis of Assisi (film)Francis of Assisi is a Delux color 1961 Cinemascope film directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the novel The Joyful Beggar by Louis de Wohl.-Plot:...
(1961) - Two and Two Make SixTwo and Two Make SixTwo and Two Make Six is a 1962 film directed by Freddie Francis. It stars George Chakiris and Janette Scott.-Cast:* George Chakiris as Larry Currado* Janette Scott as Irene* Alfred Lynch as Thomas 'Tom' Ernest Bennett* Jocelyn Lane as Julie Matthews...
(1962) - Life for RuthLife for RuthLife for Ruth is a 1962 British drama film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Michael Craig, Patrick McGoohan and Janet Munro.-Plot:John Harris finds himself ostracized and placed on trial for allowing his daughter Ruth to die. His religious beliefs forbade him to give consent for a blood...
(1962)